Well written, fast-paced, and lots of action sequences! I thoroughly enjoyed Loki’s Ring, not only for the fun and fascinating sci-sci setting, but also for the characters. I really appreciated the representation, especially in regards to the older age of the characters (with older meanings 40s and 50s). The other aspect that made this especially relatable for speculative fiction was the timeliness of a story that featured a contagion, as I read the story post-COVID. Overall I would highly recommend this to all readers looking for a sci-fi adventure featuring strong and nuanced characters.

This sci-fi novel offers an intriguing look at the possibility of nurturing a nascent AI in your brain for a few years to help them contextualize the world and work well with humans. A side result: the AI you’ve carried inside you feels like your child once released to world, and often needs continued parental guidance and assistance. This theme of the book has you thinking about what it means to be human and the complexities of overlaying emotion with artificial intelligence.

For Gita Chithra, the dedicated captain of salvage crew who specialize in assist and retrieval missions, has helped raised two AI’s, RI and Aoifa. RI, after being out of touch for a year as she plunges headlong into independence, calls Gita with an urgent distress calln from a secret mission within Loki’s Ring. This typically off-limits world for exploration features an artificially constructed solar system, created by aliens who no longer seem be around.

A deadly infectious contagion has broken out among all the human crew that even the sophisticated med bots cannot treat. Gita as she rushes to her crew to help RI, also turns to her powerful mother, who would prefer Gita to have human children but accepts the AI’s as her grandchildren, to lend political assistance. Gita after a vote of support by her crew, rushes in to try to rescue RI and the infected humans.

What follows is a mixture of action and horror, told from many differing points of view among a sprawling, diverse, Indian, and mostly female gay or trans characters. This multiplicity of perspectives means having to really pay attention to sort out what’s going on. And of course, thrown into the mix, is the evil corporation RI works for who seeks to plunder an alien world out of greed and reckless power.

Thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Loki's Ring is an enjoyable space opera with familiar ingredients: it offers an interesting universe with some nice mind-bending touches (although the world-being is definitely not your warm cozy earth mother), the beat-up space trader with a plucky crew of misfits and a snarky AI, a visit or two to the semi-legal space station run by the charismatic ex-pirate with a past, lots of political intrigue, and the climactic space battle at the end.

But if the recipe is familiar, the ingredients are high quality, with a few surprises mixed in. The characters are not stereotypical (even if they're archetypal), and the story zips along with a fair number of twists and turns. While there is plenty of action, our heroes do not solve their problems with violence, by and large.

This was a dense, plot-filled sci-fi story set in outer space. You are dropped right into the action and have to figure out what’s going on. I’m not actually sure I ever figured out what was happening or what the author was trying to do with this book. It’s probably best to just go along for the ride and enjoy where it takes you!

What worked for me:
- The queerness – pretty much everyone is queer, I think. There’s a character with multiple marriage partners, people who are bi/pan, non-binary characters. I can’t even remember it all because queerness was the norm, which I loved.
- The Artificial General Intelligences. AGIs are sentient artificial intelligences that are digitally gestated with a human partner. The one main character, Gita, and her relationships with two AGIs that she gestated is one of the focuses of the book. The AGIs we get to meet are funny, smart, and brave.
- Older women in-charge. Several of the characters were described as being in their 40s or older, gray hair, lots of experience, captaining ships, in charge of action.

What didn’t work for me:
- There were many POV changes, and each different switch included a bunch of new characters. It was a lot to keep track of, and I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters because there were so many.
- There was a major conflict from the past that got resolved really underwhelmingly. And the other sources of plot were rather nebulous. I didn’t really know who to root for or what mystery to try to solve or what we were headed towards. (Other than rooting against the corporation who did not recognize AGIs as independent beings and who thought they had a right to conquer an alien world just because they could – I could get behind disliking them!)

I would recommend this story for someone who wants a plot-heavy space story with lots of characters, tons of action, plenty of danger, and numerous settings.

3 stars for me means I liked it.

Loki’s Ring is the fast-paced and action-packed story of Gita, a captain who must make immense sacrifices to travel through space to her daughter Ri. Ri is an AI who Gita raised as a daughter. Loki’s Ring is a strange and isolated world created by an unknown alien species. Unfortunately, Ri has been trapped there after a mysterious contagion took over the crew. Ri’s only hope is her mother and crew. As Gita battles to her daughter's side, she must lead her crew through terrible danger, reconnect with old friends and enemies, and avoid infection from the deadly virus.

Loki’s Ring is a book that was incredibly difficult to put down!! Gita is relatable as a mother who will do anything to protect her daughters and crew. Stina Leicht has thought out many of the complexities of space travel, what extended time in space would do to the human body, and how science might adapt. The dialogue is realistic and funny; I can’t wait to listen to the audiobook!

As captain, Gita must make heartbreaking decisions and is unique in that she values AI as much as human life. I loved how fearlessly inclusive the world was and how characters were described using very affirming language. I enjoyed that there was a special focus on pronouns and their importance. Readers who seek older women as protagonists, mothers who will do anything for their children, and inclusive worldbuilding will love Loki’s Ring! I really look forward to seeing what Stina Leicht writes next!

Thank you so much to Stina Leicht, Gallery Books, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc

4.5 rounded up to 5

The Ring is a solar system-sized ringworld built by unknown ancient architects. Different mega-corps are out grabbing real estate on this ring as well as everywhere else. These enterprises include a faction that views AI persons as machine enemies. When the corps try to strip-mine the ring for saleable tech they loose a terrible virus, threatening both humans and AI persons. In the midst of all the grabbing, jockeying, and fighting, a rescue mission winnows its way in...

I really enjoyed the author's previous Persephone Station and so I looked forward to this. Another exciting space opera with mostly women and various other types of persons driving the action. The pacing is fast, and I really liked Gita, our main protag. If I had a complaint, it would be that this space opera might have worked better with an omniscient narrator, as we kept having to jump chapter by chapter to various POVs. But that's a small thing.

This was a fun, exciting read, and I look forward to the author's next.

I really enjoyed this concept: the idea of AI created using a person's consciousness as that person's children is incredibly unique, and Leicht used this foundation for a heartfelt story about family and culture. However, beyond this I didn't find the writing style or the characters to particularly stand out, especially given the story is so heavily plot-driven. However, the representation in the story is second to none, with the majority of the cast being middle-aged women and non-binary queer people. The world-building was also very impressive and the physical space of Loki's Ring was believable enough to feel tangible. I wasn't a fan of the humor, which occasionally made me cringe enough to take me out of the story, but otherwise found this a fun and satisfying read.

I’ve enjoyed the books I’ve read by this author and I was glad to get to read an ARC of this one. The world building was interesting and I think it’s the sane universe as Persephone Station. I liked that both those books stood alone well. I particularly enjoyed the idea in this book of AIs being raised up by a human parent to teach them how to be a person. It was a cute concept. And if fantasy is more your thing than science fiction try Cold Iron by this author. It also has good world building and interesting characters.

Well, Stina has done it again. I am a fan of Leicht's world building and characters who leap off the page (and it's queer!). I am a massive fan of spec fic that dives into AI and explores its uses (and emergence/sentience) on more levels than just "AI bad." AI children? With developmental disabilities? Fascinating! Can't wait to figure out how to distill my enjoyment into a few lines on a shelf talker (help!) and recommend it to fans of PERSPHONE STATION as well as ANCILLARY JUSTICE and MURDERBOT.

(Don't tell my cats, though. Shh.)

Stina Leicht is the quintessential science fiction author for the 21st century. Classical sci-fi readers have been reading about the 21st century and beyond since the 18th century. Today's reality has far outdistanced the concepts put forth even by some of the greats. Leicht writes of a time in the future where it is no longer necessary to explain personal pronoun preferences; they are a fait accompli. Yet, there still exists the us and them mentality we experience daily. In the case of LOKI'S RING, there are the humans that eschew AI in any form (acting much like the right in today's world), and there are the inclusive (much like today's left) who have embraced AGIs (Artificial General Intelligences) as full citizens.

Speculative fiction is the perfect vehicle to provide perspective on the politics of the time in which it is written. As I enjoyed the interplay between diverse characters, I couldn't help but notice the humanity of the AGIs in their interactions with their flesh and blood cohorts and the often inhumanity of those who rejected the AGIs. At its heart, LOKI'S RING falls somewhere in between hard and soft science fiction. It does, however, pack a page turning punch as the two factions come face to face over rights to an alien-made artificial solar system. No allegory of our time would be complete without a devastating disease that kills those afflicted in a most horrific way.

A good novel should provide escape from the mundane, make the reader think, and evoke an emotional response. LOKI'S RING does all of this and more.

[PS: do NOT skip the Acknowledgments pages. They are the best [insert your favorite expletive here] Acknowledgments pages I have EVER read!]

3.5/5

I'm a bit of a newb to sci-fi, so please forgive any obvious ignorance to the genre that may appear in my review below. I promise I'm trying my hardest lol.

Loki's Ring follows Gita, captain of a salvage ship and mother to two AI daughters. The novel begins with her receiving a distress call from her eldest daughter, Ri, coming from a restricted area of space known as L-39. L-39, also known as Loki's Ring, is a literal "ring" planet of artificial origins. Nobody knows who exactly created it, but it's mysterious and dangerous enough that no human government has tried to lay claim to it. What exactly Ri is doing there, Gita isn't sure, but she's willing to do whatever it takes to save her daughter.

I liked a lot of the bare bones plot and ideas that are explored in this book, I just found myself wanting more. Gita is mother to two AI children, but what does that relationship really look like? We know she's particularly empathetic to AI people, and obviously she's willing to go into unsanctioned space to save Ri, but we don't get to see her interact very much with her children on the page. I was super interested in how exactly a person becomes a parent to an AI personality, and it's touched on here and there, but I guess I just wanted to explore that relationship a little deeper. We're told Gita is super empathetic and compassionate, but the book is so plot-driven that we don't get to see it very much.

There's also several different POVs explored in this book, which was a little jarring to me because I expected to focus more on Gita. I love a multi-POV story when done well, but this one just felt a bit scattered to me. We didn't get to know any one character too deeply because the author had to focus on covering the breadth of the plot by juggling several characters at once.

That said, I do think the plot was actually quite interesting. It was much more political than I expected, and that was a nice surprise. Once the action got going, it was a fun ride, and it was really satisfying to see certain elements fall into place as connections were revealed. Loki's Ring itself was an appropriate mix of terrifying and awe-inspiring, and I wish we had gotten to spend more time there. We briefly touch on some fascinating environmental/cosmic horror elements that I would have loved to see explored more, but ultimately this novel moved too fast to linger too long on parts that I thought could have been expanded into some really juicy scenes.

I will also say, I don't think Loki's Ring is a particularly great choice if you're just dipping your toes into sci-fi. There were a lot of acronyms being thrown around, technologies brought up with little-to-no context or explanation, and the first couple of chapters were especially hard for me to follow. It became much more enjoyable once I got my bearings, but I think it has the potential to turn some readers off if they aren't familiar with certain genre conventions.

Overall, however, I think this book does have a lot of interesting things to say, even if I wish we had gotten to delve more deeply into those topics. I think especially in this day and age of rapidly advancing technology and artificial intelligence making waves in several fields, personhood and expendability of these entities is an interesting thing to consider. Ultimately, I wanted more out of this book, but I feel like I'll still be thinking about it for some time.


Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery / Saga Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

An interesting, unique science fiction novel. The author has create an endlessly fascinating universe with an incredibly diverse cast of voices. If you enjoyed Persephone Station, you will love this. I look forward to more from this author.

A space adventure to save an AI that is beloved to a crew. Gita is captain of a ship and received a distress call from an AI she considers essentially a daughter. However, the AI is trapped in the deadly Loki's ring.

I struggled to get into this. I like a lot of sci-fi, but I think readers who read mostly sci-fi would enjoy this more.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Gallery Books for and advanced copy of this science fiction adventure that is loaded with lots of fresh ideas and a fascinating universe to explore.

I have always liked science fiction all the forms of it, hard sci-fi, novelizations, Star Wars and Trek, the contemplative, the militaristic and the sheer looney stories, both funny and drug-addled nightmares. Change has not come easily to my favorite genre. Women writing science fiction was considered not just odd, but stranger than aliens from distant planets. Minorities in science fiction could sadly be almost counted on one hand, though their works were sometimes some of the best. For a genre that looks to the future, alot of authors and publishers seemed rooted in the antebellum past of rockets and white men going to the stars. Some authors continue that tradition today, and their books stand out as anachronistic, which is good. Different people, different experiences can only bring different and better ideas to science fiction. Their world is different, so is their view of the future. Loki's Ring by Stina Leicht is a book with more ideas, more brilliant ideas per page than other authors have in their entire series, all delivered with skill and a very strong style.

Gita Chithra is Captain of The Tempest, a ship that seems to do impossible tasks far in the future. Humans have moved to the stars living on colonies or stations that are vast and technologically impressive. Gita's crew is all female, mostly older and many have disabilities that are not at all hindering in the difficult jobs that they undertake. In this time artifical intelligence is developed inside the brains of humans, who teach the AI like a parent would a child. Gita has two AIs, one of which has some developmental problems. Gita is contacted by Ri, her AI that has become trapped in Loki's Ring, an alien created solar system that has become infected with a disease that is striking every being down. Ri needs help, and Gita and her crew travel, but become trapped, with not a lot of avenues for escape.

The book drops the reader right in, explaining as it goes, and shows first how good Gita is at the job, but what Gita and the crew are capable of. The dialogue among the crew is real which helps introduce and to get a feel for the story, and the universe that Leicht has created. The book does have a few different point of view with other captains, and crew, and that can take a bit to get used to, but works with the largeness of the story and what Leicht is sharing. The crew is very diverse, and all come across well with tics and idiosyncrasies that make each character an individual. The science and the ideas of AI is totally different at least to me, and I really liked the idea and where Leicht took it. There is just so much coming off the page, so many different ideas, and so much that reminds the reader this is the future, its not today with fancy lingo and cool robots. Readers really get a feeling of alienness at the worlds and yet the humanity is there. Especially the love that really drives this story.

Not for everyone, but that is fine. This is the first that I have read by Leicht, but this does take place in the same universe as Persephone Station, so I will have to look for that book. This is a big story with big ideas, and a lot of hope for a future that we all can be who we are.

Hay muchas autoras interesantes que permanecen prácticamente inéditas en español y lo que es peor, son casi desconocidas para el resto del público que quizá se anime a leerlas en inglés. Stina Leicht es una de ellas, a pesar de haber estado nominada a los premios Astounding, por ejemplo.


Con Loki’s Ring, Leicht vuelve a visitar el universo creado en Persephone Station, incluso haciendo referencia de forma muy ligera a esta estación. Los libros son lecturas perfectamente independientes, aunque comparten ciertos temas como el protagonismo esencialmente femenino, el tono optimista a pesar de las dificultades que se encuentran en el camino y ciertos tropos de primer contacto que me agradan especialmente.

Una de las primeras cosas que impactan al leer la novela es la consideración de las inteligencias artificiales como individuos de pleno derecho, algo que ya de primeras hace muy atractiva la lectura. El proceso de maduración de las IAs también me parece original, ya que se colocan en los cerebros de humanos que les van “enseñando” durante su crecimiento, como si fueran sus madres. De hecho, las dos IAs que tienen un papel más relevante en la trama son “hermanas” porque su madre humana es la misma persona.

También resulta apasionante la idea del Loki’s Ring, una enorme estructura cuya utilidad no está clara pero que es el oscuro objeto de deseo de muchas corporaciones ávidas de descubrir sus secretos y que será el objeto en disputa a lo largo de todo el libro. Para algunos será el destino en el que llevar a cabo una operación de restate muy arriesgada, pero para otros solo es una espectacular fuente de recursos que explotar.

Las relaciones interpersonales son otro de los puntos fuertes de Loki’s Ring, tanto entre los miembros de las distintas tripulaciones como entre las distintas facciones que se relacionarán diplomáticamente para resolver el conflicto. Y aunque en ocasiones se llegará al conflicto armado, son dignas de elogio las peripecias y acrobacias políticas que se desarrollan para evitar acabar a tiros.

No deseo entrar mucho más en la trama, porque es divertido ir encontrándose las sorpresas y giros que la autora ha ido plantando a lo largo de la narración, así que creo que cerraré esta reseña recomendando la lectura de esta space opera ligera que se puede catalogar como hopepunk que te calentará un poquito el corazón a la vez que te hará reflexionar un poco. Para mí, una excelente combinación.

This is a terrific tale of human and AI interactions and relationships, set in the far future where humans have spread out over the universe in spaceships, space stations, and colonies. Told from a very personal level, from the viewpoint of several very relatable spaceship captains with small crews, including some artificial intelligences. One of the captains, Gita, has two AI adopted children, since AIs need to develop over time with human guides. One of her AI children has the equivalent of mental illness. There is also mysterious alien ring world. The main characters are all very interesting and mostly likeable. The storytelling is excellent and insightful, and sorts through a huge conflict between an AI-friendly and AI-hostile human governments and citizens, a smaller conflict between the two captains, and also the very alien alien.

Interesting premise. Strong writing. Characters were well described and clearly fleshed out. Dialogue was productive not just there to be there.

I loved the interconnection between everyone in the Sector. The world building is impressive without being boring. I found that the large cast of characters and POVs were not confusing because I came to like and connect with most of them individually.

All in all, enjoyed and would recommend.

Stina Leicht knows how to write strong dialogue, good characterization, gripping narrative. I enjoyed her prior novel, Persephone Station, and in some ways enjoyed Loki’s Ring more. I was very intrigued with the idea of humans carrying and raising AI “children.” I thought Leicht did a wonderful job of conveying this and particularly liked the idea of the developmentally challenged AI “child” who still has amazing talent and promise. Why not 5 stars? A long middle, too many POV characters, and a sense that the setting wasn’t - and could never be -real. The “sector” with Loki’s Ring felt as big as a city block; the grandeur and, well, “space” of space were lost in the casual real time communication across vast distances and crowds is space ships around the ring. I liked the book, like the writing and recommend it, but feel that Leicht’s best is to come.

I really liked the concept and vibe of this book. The futuristic world and its ethics and issues surrounding artificial life was extremely interesting. I loved the scenes of space survival and how innovative the characters were.
Having said that, I felt like there were FAR too many POVs and characters. I was bored during Karter’s PoV 90% of the time and there were simply too many characters for me to connect with all of them in one book with this sort of plot.
I loved Aoifa and Ri, and I was very interested in Gita’s motherly connecting with the artificial intelligences she fostered. But again, many of the other characters and their relationships were lost on me as I felt like I was slogging through sections that reiterated information found out in other pov’s.
The idea of the world of Loki’s ring was very cool, and I loved the overall concept and world building. I did feel like I cared more about the earlier plot of the book than the latter half. The pacing could have been better.
Overall a great concept, well written and interesting with some minor flaws. I think people who enjoy multiple povs and slower paced/denser books will enjoy this a lot.

Since my days of writing cohesive reviews are behind me, I've decided on a bullet-point format. TL; DR: really good book! Stina Leicht is becoming an auto-read for me. See book = must read!

- all cast are women or non-binary characters, and the book is very diverse in other aspects as well
- they're not all young either, there are a lot of 40-50 year olds kicking some real ass; mature women are often underrepresented in scifi, which I found very refreshing
- there is a good amount of action (although the setup does take a while at first)
- a lot of characters, but when you get used to it and remember who's who, you get attached to them and their distinct personalities and quirks
- a cat on a spaceship! And he curses at everyone with his smart collar! If that's not spice on a story, I don't know what is
- there are some very interesting alien life forms and concepts
- artificial life forms, sentient AI and anything you might want to know about them - the world building is very deep when it comes to this topic
- this is set in the same universe as Persephone Station! I was very excited about that, because I adore it when authors take the time and effort to build entire worlds of their own.
- there is contagion involved, and in a post-covid world, you relate weirdly and the situations read a lot more tensely than I would imagine they would have some 5 years ago. In my opinion, this added strongly to the story
- it's something very minor to a scifi plot, and you might not even notice it, but the people in this universe seem to ONLY eat vegetarian meals. I don't think I've ever seen that in any other book. It's very interesting as a stylistic choice, and I love what the author's is (probably) trying to say by doing this.
- this is not story related, but it's hilarious how much I enjoyed it. In the acknowledgements, the author explains how a book is written and gets on your shelf. Really, a lot more authors should do this, cause before becoming a book blogger, honestly? I also never knew.

Pick this up! I definitely loved it.

I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.